Translator: CinderTL
Back in his dormitory, Feng Qi washed up, changed into clean clothes, and sat down at his desk to organize the information.
Even now, he couldn't believe Wang Jinsheng was a domain creature.
If he were a domain creature, why would he return to Star City High School to teach?
During that time, he frequently wrote articles for influential forums, inspiring countless ambitious young people.
Therefore, Feng Qi was convinced that Old Wang's motives were for the sake of humanity.
He vividly remembered Old Wang's words from history class.
It was precisely under Old Wang's guidance that Feng Qi felt he had been able to face the truth of the apocalypse in the Dream Realm and choose to stand up as a savior.
But as Wei Wei had pointed out, there were indeed too many suspicious points surrounding Wang Jinsheng.
As a historical figure of great renown, he had never been targeted for assassination by domain creatures, his path seemingly too smooth and unobstructed.
The voice in the black mist had claimed this was a contingency he had planted a thousand years ago.
This contingency, as the Narrator suggested, might be a "switch" implanted within the human bloodline, passed down through generations until it was embedded in the bodies of all humans.
But what could possibly accomplish such a feat?
His first thought was cultivation techniques.
Only exceptionally effective cultivation techniques would be widely promoted and passed down through generations.
From this perspective, Old Wang of history class was indeed highly suspicious.
The Future People revered Old Wang as a historical titan, and the research institute he belonged to was the Tiger Soul Research Institute, whose core focus was cultivation techniques.
This suggested that Old Wang had developed a Super Cultivation Technique capable of altering the course of Human Civilization.
But what if this Super Cultivation Technique had a flaw?
What if humans who cultivated this technique had a "Bloodline Switch" implanted within them?
And what if this switch could be inherited by subsequent generations?
In the Dream Realm, the Lord of the Black Mist might have activated this "switch," executing a long-planned harvest of humanity.
Could it be that Old Wang was possessed by a domain creature in secret?
"Then the dark force could have used Old Wang's influence to promote this Super Cultivation Technique..."
At this point, he suddenly thought of Lin Ran.
Historical records showed that Lin Ran had developed a cultivation technique that caused the meridians of millions to rupture, leading to their deaths.
From the very beginning, this matter had been riddled with inconsistencies.
Now, with Old Wang's involvement, he couldn't help but suspect that there were problems within the Tiger Soul Research Institute itself.
If we assume the Tiger Soul Research Institute is a dark force similar to the technology research institute, many questions can be answered from a different perspective.
First, let's consider Lin Ran's situation.
Because the cultivation technique he created was too exceptional, the dark force infiltrating the Tiger Soul Research Institute grew deeply wary. They feared Lin Ran's technique could lead to rapid human advancement.
Therefore, during the technique testing phase, they deliberately altered portions of the promoted version, introducing critical flaws.
This way, Lin Ran would ultimately take the blame.
In essence, they had eliminated a "human hero" capable of advancing human cultivation studies without shedding a drop of blood.
Viewed from this angle, it becomes clear why Lin Ran's self-cultivation and personal testing of the technique showed no issues, yet catastrophic problems emerged when it was widely disseminated.
Next, let's examine Wang Jinsheng's case.
As a historical figure of great renown, Wang Jinsheng had undoubtedly developed numerous outstanding cultivation techniques before creating the Super Cultivation Technique, potentially surpassing Lin Ran's in terms of influence.
The Tiger Soul Research Institute manipulated and exploited him, then introduced a cultivation technique similar to a "Bloodline Switch."
This technique genuinely advanced humanity, leading countless people to practice it.
In reality, the technique concealed a catastrophe that would destroy Human Civilization. The Lord of the Black Mist had long prepared to exploit this flaw to harvest all of humanity.
From this perspective, all the pieces seemed to fall into place.
Feng Qi, do you remember Le Ping'an?
"What about him?"
Back then, you couldn't understand why he joined Star City Academy. Now, do you think it's possible the technology research institute wanted to infiltrate the Tiger Soul Research Institute?
Feng Qi's heart skipped a beat at the Narrator's words.
Ever since learning Le Ping'an was a werewolf, one question had remained unanswered: why would the technology research institute have him join Star City Academy?
At the time, Feng Qi was still unknown, and his cultivation exercises were still in the testing phase. The technology research institute couldn't have specifically planted Le Ping'an near him; they must have had other motives.
It was only by chance that they discovered his knowledge of the dark force, which led to the subsequent series of werewolf-related events.
He had asked Le Ping'an what he wanted to do after graduation.
Le Ping'an's answer was to join a Cultivation Research Institute.
Could it be that the technology research institute had long been plotting to infiltrate the Cultivation Research Institute, and that their target was likely the Tiger Soul Research Institute?
The dark force had arranged for Le Ping'an to enroll in Star City Academy precisely because the academy maintained close collaborative ties with the Tiger Soul Research Institute.
If Le Ping'an excelled at the academy, he could be recommended for admission to the Tiger Soul Research Institute.
Old Wang of history class, who had been recommended to the Tiger Soul Research Institute years ago, was also a graduate of Star City Academy.
The answer to the mystery seemed to be growing clearer.
As he pondered this, an image flashed through his mind: Le Ping'an sitting at his desk, surrounded by books on cultivation studies, diligently studying the subject.
Was it all just a means to infiltrate the Tiger Soul Research Institute?
That's certainly possible. In the future historical timeline you're unaware of, the Tiger Soul Research Institute was ultimately brought under the control of the dark force behind the technology research institute.
Hearing these words, Feng Qi was about to nod in agreement when a sudden realization struck him. He recalled a statement the Lord of the Black Mist had made to Mu Yao:
"I haven't won, but humanity has already lost. No one will survive."
The first three words of that statement, "I haven't won," now seemed to carry a deeper meaning.
"Narrator," Feng Qi asked, "is it possible that the force controlling the Tiger Soul Research Institute isn't the same as the Domain Force controlling the Technology Research Institute? Could the Technology Research Institute be infiltrating the Tiger Soul Research Institute simply to penetrate the enemy's core and gather intelligence?"
Absolutely possible. Domain creatures clearly have their own factions. While they're fighting against humanity, they're also playing their own games against each other. That's why the Lord of the Black Mist would say he hasn't won, but humanity has already lost.
Thinking about this, Feng Qi felt a headache coming on.
He had initially believed this was a straightforward conflict between humanity and domain creatures. But based on the available clues, it seemed there were likely numerous hidden forces at play.
These factions were also engaged in their own power plays.
In the Dream Realm, Mu Yao's decision to spare the Lord of the Black Mist and head east might have been to confront another expanding Domain Force.
This is too mind-bending! My brain's about to explode.
Ignoring the Narrator's complaints, Feng Qi opened his notebook and began writing.
Moments later, two new speculative lines appeared on the page:
Technology Research Institute (Confirmed Domain Force):
Known Historical Influence: Destroyed the Scarlet Research Institute, created Spirit Energy Nanoworms (Little Black), assassinated human prodigies of the new generation.
Tiger Soul Research Institute:
Speculation 1: Possibly controlled by the Domain Force that infiltrated the Technology Research Institute.
Speculation 2: Could be backed by another Domain Force, with the Technology Research Institute sending Le Ping'an to infiltrate enemy territory and prepare for future power struggles.
Speculation 3: The problem lies solely with Old Wang; the Tiger Soul Research Institute itself is untainted.
He set down his pen, lost in thought.
These conjectures were based on the available intelligence, and might not reflect the truth.
But if they were true, then Human Civilization could be harboring more than one Domain Force.
While vying for dominance, these forces were constantly eroding Human Civilization's progress.
Once Human Civilization was completely destroyed, their own war would begin, each vying for control of the entire world.
This aligned with what the Lord of the Black Mist had said: humans had already lost, but it had yet to win.
If this were the truth, it would explain one puzzling question.
Why hadn't the Technology Research Institute, with its overwhelming power to crush the Scarlet Research Institute and even annihilate Human Civilization in a single strike, chosen to do so?
Because they too feared the other Domain Forces lurking in the shadows.
They possessed the power to destroy Human Civilization, but lacked the ability to secure a decisive victory in their power struggle with other forces.
The Technology Research Institute might even be searching for other Domain Forces that had infiltrated Human Civilization.
As this thought surfaced, a new question arose in his mind.
If the Real World was the true battlefield, already infiltrated by various Domain Forces, then what was the Heaven-Reaching Road?
With the enemy already embedded within Human Civilization, why were those vanished powerhouses still pursuing the Heaven-Reaching Road?
Shouldn't they have chosen to stay and fight alongside humanity, or launch an operation to eradicate the poison?
"Narrator, come out and analyze the situation for me."
Ding~ The system has crashed from overthinking and cannot answer any questions.
After a moment of silence, still unable to grasp the problem, he realized only two people could provide answers:
Mu Yao.
Liu Yue.
Contacting Mu Yao wouldn't be easy; it would require choosing the Future Line where he joins the Dawn Army.
However, given the timeline, he might die young due to some unforeseen accident, never living to see the Dawn Army's formation.
This Future Line was an option, but a risky one.
As for Liu Yue, he found it puzzling that his future self had never left any record explaining the Heaven-Reaching Road.
Could it be that even with mutual trust, the secrets of the Heaven-Reaching Road remained inviolable?
Confronting Liu Yue directly for answers now was pointless; they weren't close enough for him to reveal such secrets. He would have to glean the truth from the Future Line.
Moreover, there was another persistent mystery: why little black could pinpoint his location and relentlessly hunt him down.
Logically, he should have been erased from the timeline. By the time little black was born, he'd been dead for countless years. How could he still be targeted?
In his previous Dream Realm vision of the future, little black had not appeared.
He had two hypotheses to explain this absence.
First, little black might not have reached his location before Feng Qi's death.
Second, confronting the Technology Research Institute in this Future Line might have caused little black to die before birth, preventing his appearance.
As he pondered, Feng Qi meticulously recorded his thoughts in his notebook, consolidating the new intelligence.
He realized that returning from this Dream Realm vision had left him with even more unresolved questions than before.
Originally, after confirming that the Technology Research Institute was the dark force infiltrating Human Civilization, he had believed that eradicating it would usher in an era of rapid development for humanity.
He had thought that by continuously copying future cultivation techniques and bringing them back to the Real World, he could secure humanity's ultimate victory.
But the newly acquired intelligence revealed that the path to saving the world remained fraught with thorns. He still had a long journey ahead, with countless mysteries demanding answers.
Closing his notebook, he took a deep breath and muttered:
"Damn it!"
(End of the Chapter)
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